Saturday, March 30, 2013

Fanboy Admission and Genetics

I loved cartoons that were based on personalities - iconic characters, even if they weren't fully animated.

I was especially obsessed with the Flintstones and not only drew them but acted out stories about them in the back yard with my neighbors, Jeff and Phil. I actually got in trouble for it once.

I used to draw my own stories about them and even wrote treatises on what made up the different styles of each studio.

I used to explain how the different styles worked to my friends who stared at me like I was nuts. "Who the f' cares, Falusi??"

The Chipmunks for some reason were on Sunday mornings in Ottawa, sandwiched in between in all the boring Jesus shows. It was extremely limited but very creative and whimsical. And of course the music and soundtracks were great. I don't know what the heck happened to them in the 80s. They became preachy and depressing and hideously drawn.

Bobby Bigloaf is a character that is a fanboy but of the kind that wishes he could draw but instead chooses the easier route - to write.

There is a new kind of rare fanboy, encouraged by the internet, somewhat like Bobby, only much angrier, a very strange sort of genetic defect that luckily doesn't have chance of breeding.

I loved Disney animation as a kid but never really got into the characters. It just seemed like beautifully abstract motion and I was mesmerized by it.

I am much more naturally drawn to the kind of full animation that is creative like early Fleischers and Looney Tunes.

They used to play this crap on Sunday mornings when I was a kid.Saturdays I got Looney Toons, Popeye, and Tom and Jerry.What does Jesus have against good cartoons?It's like road-kill...you hate to look at it, but you can't help but stare.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwtyGgmyRA8

I know you're not that into Famous Studios shorts, but have you seen any of the Popeye cartoons Jim Tyer directed during that time, like "Rocket to Mars," "Too Weak to Work," and "Service with a Guile." It's like a preview of what he would do at Terrytoons, but more polished in some cases depending on whether Izzy Sparber, Dan Gordon (who wasn't even there for that long), Seymour Kneitel, or Bill Tytla were overseeing the production of a particular short. Sure, it's not nearly the same as watching a Fleischer short animated in 1935 or 1936, but back then, nearly every studio had adopted standard 1940s animation principles and compared to how Disney like the Fleischer Popeyes were becoming after they moved down to Florida, I think Famous reinvigorated the series for a while.

Dave Tendlar also did some directed some really good cartoons at Famous in the 1940s. The studio seemed pretty worthy to carry on the Popeye series and others with how well they were incorporating elements of the Warner Bros. cartoons and Tex Avery shorts into their work, but starting the late 1940s and early 1950s, with Sam Buchwald's death, the shorts took a major dip into bland formula.

If you haven't already, you should also check out this link. It's a major reason why Famous Studios and even the Fleischers in their later period started to descend and devolve into plodding formula. It can also explain why the animators would later on try to do takes and how they would come across as being literal, unfunny interpretations of what Warners and Tex had done, even though they seemed to be very capable of drawing in the style from 1942 to at least 1949 or 1950.

Yep i rarely watch cartoons on tv these days WTF happened? They don't even rerun old cartoons anymore. Kids should watch more Fleisher cartoons, they're great, even the ones without sound. I was a Disney nerd when i was a kid I always talked about Donald Duck, Mickey etc. Also Looney Tunes some times and drew them until my teacher was tired of me and actualy thought i was autistic... Wich I'm not. I was Just amazed by animation and drawings.